Tenure
by Princess-Garnet-Stone
Summary: VERY well-written. Post-game, before ending FMV. Garnet sends an unusual pair to find Zidane in Outer Continent. .mainly Lani/Amarant, with Z.T./G and B/A.S. WILL BE NC-17 IN FUTURE CHAPTERS. So far it is PG-13. Chapter 2 now up. sorry for delay. CH.2!
1. Introduction

Title: Tenure

Summary: After the game, before ending FMV. Garnet employs two unusual people to go search for Zidane in Outer Continent. The desert environment makes for lusty situations, though… (Amarant/Lani)(Zidane/Dagger). Rating can change!

Rating: PG-13. May become NC-17.

Date: May 30, 2002 – May 31, 2002

****

Tenure

A bleak morning gave light to a new figure, staggering through the heavy sand dunes outside of the Iifa tree. Sheathed only in a bedraggled robe he had stripped from his dying brother and torn jeans, Zidane tried to picture what the future held for him. Escape from the Iifa tree was more exasperating then he thought, and though he tried, he could not crawl and hop throughout the winding, bending Iifa Tree brambles with his brother in his arms. Hence, he had to leave Kuja's body behind, nestled in a small patch of wildflowers that survived the horrible impact of the crushing Iifa Tree roots. Kuja in his state no longer needed much clothing, but not daring to leave him bare, Zidane stripped his shirt to cover his face – the most humane thing to do to keep the flies away from his face. He took his purple, slightly frayed cloak instead to humbly wrap around his shoulders as if a shroud. It was enough to keep away the stinging desert sun in day and the bitter desert wind at night. 

_And to what do I struggle to, _He questioned in his mind. _What does the nearest future behold for me? It ain't good, from what I see._

The desert stretched frightfully in front of him, massive waves of golden sand rolling winding around towards the far-off desert canyons. Beyond that would be Madain Sari – he would stop there, to get help from the Moogles. _If I make it their at all,_ Zidane thought, clutching at the gaping wound in his arm. A rampant falling bramble had pinned his arm down to the ground beneath him as he had knelt over Kuja; it took a good few hours to make the bramble budge without having the sharpened thorns on it dig into his flesh and separate tendon and muscle from bone. The wound was not very bad but the conditions he faced on his journey could, in the end, lead to an infection or gangrene.

He fell to his knees in the desert and looked up at the sun. A blinding white light filled his eyes and golden circles danced as he closed them again. _Garnet, will I ever see you again?_

…::.*.::…

Coughing sand, Zidane leaned against the wooden post of Eiko's kitchen. He had made it this far; the journey was a difficult one, and filled with cowardly fleeing. He was too weak to keep himself in battle long, only managing to slay some minor beast just to see if he could use the fur for a decent warm shroud instead of the flimsy cloth his brother's cloak provided him. The kitchen was still filled with Moogles, all of which sat around playing cards and singing merrily.

" Guys…" Zidane breathed out, collapsing to the ground.

" Kupo!" The nearest Moogle cried out. It darted towards him and propped a small thin-necked laboratory beaker to his mouth, whispering: " We have a Potion."

Zidane gulped it down, feeling a slight relief in his arms and legs. He sighed and then whispered hoarsely: " I need food and water… and a bed for a few days… then I'll go to the Mage Village to see if I can get some transport."

The Moogle shook its head. " The Mage Village isn't available for trade and barter. The mages aren't allowed to be used to make supplies of military nature anymore, kupo."

" Shit!" Zidane cursed, clenching his fists. " Why not?"

" The Queen of Alexandria's orders. She's going to make a colony around here – she wants to have exclusive trading rights with the mages, kupo!" The Moogle's shiny eyes looked down at its small clever paws. 

" That would make sense." Zidane curled his legs up to his chest. " They have the best Synth shop available." Zidane didn't think he'd ever be angry at anything Garnet had done, but now he felt a bit upset. If Alexandria held a sphere of influence over the Mage Village, the mages most certainly wouldn't trade or sell goods to anyone else. _But they know me! Silly to even doubt that, right? They'll recognize me and help me out, get me a raft, **anything!**_

" Is something wrong, Kupo?" The Moogle asked curiously.

" No, no…" Zidane replied. " Just let me get some rest, please."

…::*::…

Garnet shook her long hair out of its usual braid and then set a heavy brush down onto the wooden desktop of her mirror and makeup table. She could barely recognize the woman in the mirror that gazed back at her with dulled blue eyes and scraggly black hair that had grown ever so long already, nearly past her shoulder blades. Her hair grew fast, but she knew it was a marker for how long Zidane was away from her. For days, she had dreamt fitfully of a day where she and Zidane could return together again. Other days, she stumbled drunkenly throughout Alexandria castle, searching and foraging incoming casualty lists from all the nearby kingdoms. Never did she find a track of an unidentified blond-haired, blue-eyed genome. It was simply her very luck, she liked to think, that Zidane didn't appear on casualty lists. Yet, she would feel safer knowing he was resting in an unmarked grave in a specific place then anywhere in the wide world.

" Beatrix?" She asked, aloud.

" Yes, Your Highness?" Beatrix appeared in the doorway of the room, her arms crossed across her chest. 

" Any updates from Treno on the body they found in the fountain?" Garnet's voice was strained.

" Nothing but that it was a red-haired gentleman with multiple arms. Supposedly jumped in to avoid getting caught for stealing." Beatrix sat down opposite of the Princess on her wide canopy bed. The white lace cloth slowly lowered beneath her weight. She looked down uncomfortably at her fingers, slowly twiddling her thumbs. Unnaturally high-voiced, she asked: " _So!_ How about that play coming to town soon? _I Want to Be Your Canary_, is it?"

Garnet nodded dumbly. " A month from now, if all goes well." She was distracted, her mind thinking of other things. _Has she come to bother me with naïve remarks on a play?, _Her mind buzzed.

Beatrix pushed back a long curl of reddish-brown hair and then shifted her weight so that she could cross her legs. " Your Highness, being a general for many years, and one of your most trusted advisors…"

" Please, no lectures today. I will find my love, no matter where he may be."

Beatrix's lips tightened and turned white as she pressed them tightly together. " Very well."

" He _will_ return."

Beatrix said nothing. She simply stood, placed a comforting hand on Garnet's shoulder, then slowly walked away.

…::*::…

Zidane turned. The makeshift bed the Moogles made him wasn't enough to truly rest his body. He had stripped down to only his undergarments for the hot sun bore down intensely on the window-less hut in which he slept. A bowl of steaming hot soup chilled at the bedside and he had no intentions to eat it in its overheated state. If he took the liquid in now, it would scald the roof of his mouth. If he let it sit until later, a thin layer of fat would chill over the top of it, making it revolting to swallow down. Either way, he'd be on the subservient choice.

" May we serve you anything, Mister Zidane?" A Moogle peeked in through the parting between the two curtains that remained the only barrier between the outside world and the cottage interior.

" No thank you." It was only the second day here at Madain Sari, but the austerity that hung over him in a dark cloud was enough to make the Moogles feel a closeness and respect to the genome. He had dreamt amative thoughts all night of Garnet and woke up in the morning with an abstruse ache in his heart, as if he had a hole drilled through it repeatedly as he dreamt.

" If you need anything, just ask, kupo." The Moogle inquired. " We can sell you some items for your way."

Zidane pulled his pockets inside out. A single Gil rolled out and then reeled and tottered on all sides before it stilled, flat and facedown on the floor. The Moogle clicked its tongue. " This won't do, Kupo. I'll tell you what. You're friends with Mistress Eiko, and she was our caretaker for a long time." He dug into the sack of items behind him and pulled out a Hi-Potion and then set it down before him. " Special discount – 1 Gil only."

Tears sprang warmly in Zidane's eyes and he blinked them down. " Thanks." He could only say. He drank it down and then felt a lot stronger. The soup beside him had an emanation now that was more appealing then before. He licked his lips delectably and then propped himself up by the elbows and began to eat. He recognized the taste of a Potion mixed with Antidote, laced with a few chunks of ham and potato in order to mask the medicines. Zidane knew well that they were trying to keep him from experiencing embarrassment due to not being able to afford medicines for himself, but Zidane knew he would pay them back for their troubles, so he felt simply an anxiety to return home.

__

Home, that was a troublesome word, _where is my home?_ _Garnet's castle isn't a home to me, really – Terra is destroyed, and I am no longer part of Tantalanus. What could I possibly call **home**_?

…::*::…

Two weeks passed uneventful. A chart was sketched roughly in charcoal on Garnet's wall in her bedchamber. She had worked a long time on it, nearly an entire day from sunrise to dusk, trying to perfect the contours of Gaia and the continents she knew. Slowly, she began to tack off and mark down places she had sent search parties to. Due to international boundary laws, she wasn't allowed to search the Iifa Tree with any armed forces. Partly re-inforced by Brahne's invasion of the tree, now the law was very hard to get around. So, Garnet made a decision to send a single man out to pinpoint Zidane's exact location – Amarant Coral, the mysterious monk who's Chakra spells could protect and heal Zidane, wherever he may be.

She rose now from her seat in the throne room and said: 

" Amarant?"

He stood at least forty paces away, leaning against a marble post. His flame-red hair tumbled down his forehead as he quickly twisted his head to look her dead in the eye. His burning green irises dilated as the pupils narrowed and grew significantly smaller, for behind Garnet were windows that let in plentiful sunlight. He narrowed his eyes and then asked: " Your Highness…?" He asked this roughly, still unadjusted to speaking to anyone with such a title. 

" I had the castle guards escort you here for a purpose."

" Castle guards? You mean that mook Steiner?" Amarant scoffed.

Garnet bit her tongue to keep back a sharp and witty remark. She had learned a bit too much from Zidane, it seemed. After regaining her composure, she continued: " Moving around that, I think it's best not to yank your chain any longer about staying at the castle. It seems a reunion of our once-close party is still in the very distant future."

" I can go?" Amarant smirked. " Well, _thank you_." Personally, he felt disgust with the onslaught of rules and regulations that were harnessed to him as he became a resident in the castle. He had done so after a brief stint in dating Lani. Now Lani had changed professions entirely, suddenly growing more and more interested in serving guard at Alexandria castle, and eventually even becoming someone of Beatrix's importance. Amarant hoped for a chance to hook up with Lani again at the castle.

Lani and Amarant's romance was undisclosed to Garnet, however, for she continued: " I want you to accompany Lani in a search for Zidane at the Iifa tree. It has to be top-secret, if you don't mind."

" Yes, I _do_ mind." Amarant uncrossed his arms momentarily to push himself off the marble column and stand in front of Garnet, not breaking his eye contact. He hoped to intimidate Garnet enough to have her give up on persuading him into anything. Garnet was not an easily bendable person.

Garnet replied: " There is no way that I could get Steiner or Beatrix to go without someone noticing their absence. You and Lani were guests only briefly. We could make a cover that you hooked up and went on vacation to the Outer Continent, to see the sights. Meanwhile, I'd like you to be searching avidly for Zidane. I know he's there somewhere. I just _know_ it!" She stamped her foot at that, speaking more to Beatrix then Amarant. Beatrix had begun to shake her head in doubt long ago, about a month after Zidane's disappearance. Now in the middle of the second month without Zidane, Garnet felt she would find him soon.

__

This could be interesting, Amarant analyzed. _A nice way to get with Lani again, perhaps, and the desert makes for a lusty climate… _He felt excited at the thought. He crossed his arms again, playing the cool cucumber. " Well…" He seemed to debate it heavily, though inside he was all for it. " … I suppose, for you, your Majesty, I'll do it."

Garnet burst into tears and ran forwards, embracing him. " Oh, thank you, thank you, Mister Coral!"

Her hug sent Amarant stumbling backwards. " Watch the hair…" He whispered, roughly, before breaking into a smile.

…::*::…

Author's Note: Hence, Lani and Amarant will be off to search for Zidane. Zidane, meanwhile, makes his own path after nearly a month and a half of death defying battle for his life on the way out of the Iifa Tree. Back home, Garnet awaits her precious genome with a heavy heart… by the way, as Amarant said, the desert makes for lusty climate, and lusty dreams as well… 


	2. The Beginning of the End

Title: Tenure

Chapter Rating: PG-13. 

Date: August 17, 2002

****

Tenure, Chapter 2

_A shimmering snow globe danced with flakes of glitter and false snow. A thousand dancing figures reflected inside, a thousand faces passing by. A single pair of hands held the globe, looking inside it for answers, shaking it gently to see whether the snow flakes would part to reveal the face she wanted to see, amongst those thousands of faces. The face of her true love. Yet, as she shook it, the glass spliced apart, sending shards of glass everywhere. The snow inside grew red with blood – hers or her love's? She screamed and dropped it, and the remaining half-glass dome rolled away, trailing blood-red snow. Slowly, slowly, the dancing figures grew, escaping the snow globe. They danced around her, each a strange face, each dead, each listed in the unidentified bodies section of the other kingdom's reports. Yet, no face was her love's. _

…::*::…

Garnet bolted upwards from her bed, her dark hair casting a curtain over her paled face. The nightmares were getting more and more painful to interpret. She threw her feet over the side of her bed and then stood, shaking her hair out so that it would lay appropriately on her back. Today she was to personally escort Amarant and Lani to Lindblum on a boat so that Regent Cid could give them an already-prepared, fully equipped ship that could fly them to the Outer Continent. With the Mist gone completely, only Cid could design a ship that could grace the sky. 

With a somewhat grievous formality, she donned a black suede dress and pinned her hair back and then twisted it into a bun, but then she sighed and let the hair fall back to her waist. She knew she looked better with her hair down – it masked her growingly sullen face and the dark circles under her eyes. Garnet took a last look of approval into the mirror and then she walked hurriedly down the steps and into the hallway where she first met Zidane. _Do I have something on my face?_ Garnet felt like an idiot for saying that – what did he think of her, saying something so stupid?

She arrived at the main hall just as Lani emerged from a room, looking slightly upset. She was wearing the normal outfit for an Alexandrian female military member, the stark white setting of her fiery, rust-red hair well. Lani straightened herself up a bit and said, in a slight monotone: " Good morning, Your Highness." She readied to bow with somewhat of a flourish but Garnet had walked by, giving her a slight nod.

Lani followed. " So, we're going for Lindblum, right?"

Garnet nodded again. _I never felt too warmly towards Lani… but I suppose that its' only necessary that two bounty hunters, experts at finding people, would find Zidane. _" I'm afraid I can only walk you and Amarant to the gates, though. Then you'll have to walk for a few hours to get to the pier."

" That's fine." Lani's voice still sounded angry.

" What's wrong?" Garnet asked, finally.

" I mean no disrespect…" Lani began. "… but I find this a pointless trip. I hate to tell you this, but I see that Beatrix is a bit too nice to speak up… I think he's dead. Gone." 

Garnet spun around on her heels, her eyes burning angrily. Her voice rose to a shout: " He is … NOT… _dead!_ He is alive! I know it, I feel it inside!" 

Lani took a step backwards, her eyes widening. "…" 

Garnet looked down at her black-gloved hands as she clenched them tightly, since they were shaking so badly that Lani could notice it. Her body trembled and then she looked up again, her face a mask, hiding her incredulity and fury. She smiled wanly, her lips pressed thin and tight. She didn't say anything else, she simply turned away again and began to walk quickly for the entrance doors of the castle. Lani followed behind, staring into her back, her eyes daggers. _She's lost it,_ Lani decided inside. _She's gone off the deep end. I wonder how long until the rest of the kingdom realizes it._

They climbed into a shuttle and it took them to the gates of Alexandria. Amarant waited there already, his camouflage-print pants and tight white shirt shrouded with his thick black leather vest. He smiled at Queen Garnet, then he gave a small nod to Lani. Lani's eyes burned back at him with a somewhat questioning look. Garnet ignored these exchanged looks and then began: " I don't want to make too much of a raucous about this, this is against the law." She took a deep breath. " Cid had tried to patrol the Outer Continent from the air, but its hard to spot the difference between a wanderer in the desert and a shrub from so high up in the air. I knew from the start the only thing to do was to do a proper ground search."

Lani's axe, balanced on her shoulder, along with the backpack strung over her back, was growing heavier by the minute. Though she was used to carrying it around devotedly, she couldn't stand the idea of dragging it through the desert of the Outer Continent. The temperature there was usually well over a hundred Fahrenheit and the sun was constantly to the face or back, and the nights were, in turn, very cold. Many explorers and bounty hunters Lani knew never returned from the deserts because of the constant temperature changes – it caused a horrible shock to the body.

" Please draw as little attention as you can to you. Lani, I know you can operate an airship so that's no problem." Garnet took a deep, wavering breath. " I trust you both will return safely."

Amarant shrugged. " I've been through worse assignments."

Lani nodded. " I can deal with anything." Her dark, chocolate-brown eyes moved to his.

Amarant felt almost challenged. _Which of us will fall first? Which of us will get tired and want to return first? So, that's what this is all about – a little bit of a competition. Well, I'll never quit. I'll outlast her._ He squinted at her with an attitude that could make a cobra recoil. Lani didn't even waver away from his gaze.

Garnet was rambling on about the path they should take. " The Iifa tree is completely destroyed, from reports I've received… it collapsed on itself from the inside out… so, I think that it will be the hardest to look through that rubble. But… I'm pretty sure that he made his way out of there by now. If not, then…" _Then he's probably dead._

Lani patted Garnet's shoulder. " Your Highness, we'll do our best. Stop worrying and let us off the hook now."

Garnet nodded. " Alright, then. Goodbye, you two, and keep your eyes keen about yourselves. I'd hate to lose any more friends." She then stepped back from the gates, giving them a free choice to leave now or to stay.

Lani went first and Amarant followed. Neither of them would stoop to stay back. _It might be pointless,_ Lani decided, _but here's the chance to show whose the better bounty hunter. I can't believe I even got such an amazing chance to prove it. Ever since Amarant and I broke up, I've wanted to be better… self-reliant… I don't need him._

...::.*.::..

Zidane took a deep breath. He was feeling much better. Though the Moogles were to take most of the credit for the way he felt, he knew he couldn't stay with them and keep them company any longer. He knew that within a week he'd be leaving them - - he had a wild idea about a way to make it back to Garnet. He could craft a small boat – it couldn't take too long using magic. If he used Fira a few times he could somehow learn to control it to burn wood into a shape he preferred. Then he'd try using Shells and Protects to make sure the wood was strong enough to last the journey. _It's worth a try._

As he sat at the table in Eiko's kitchen sipping at some water from a stone cup, he traced a simple design into the sand on the table with his finger. A disfigured little boat soon appeared and then a clumsy, triangular sail. He sighed and swept his hand across it. " Damn it." His hand swept it all off and down onto the floor. Looking at the scattered grains, he wondered if the Moogles would help him with the boat.

__

I can't do that, they already did so much for me. And yet, I don't know if a week is enough time to make a boat. They had already fixed his clothing, made him new boots, and then provided him with new, much better weapons. He was still a bit weak so he couldn't drag them around yet, but he figured he'd be alright soon enough.

" Kupo?" A timid Moogle appeared in the doorway again.

" Mmm?" He looked up.

" I got a letter." The Moogle exclaimed. " From Mogsy."

" Oh!" Zidane exclaimed. " What does it say? What sort of news does it have?" He had ripped away from the table and knelt before the little Moogle, his hands on its shoulders, shaking him.

The Moogle's black eyes shimmered as he pulled out a dry letter. It crackled in his fingers as he unfolded it and read:

" Queen Garnet is going to try another search for…" The Moogle frowned. " It's horribly smudged. I bet it's a search for you, Kupo."

" Who brought the letter to you?" Zidane wondered.

" That's the odd thing. It just arrived. A miracle." The Moogle showed Zidane the envelope. " Just a mark on it."

Zidane examined the mark. _Cid's royal seal!_ " It's Regent Cid - - from Lindblum. He's been patrolling the air - - I've seen his ships before. I tried to get their attention, but…" He rattled his brain for reasons, for answers. " He has a Moogle onboard… all airships should."

The Moogle nodded. " We're useful, kupo."

" They probably dropped a few cartloads of these letters… encouraging news for me, I guess." Zidane cursed under his breath and the Moogle's black eyes widened.

" Kupo…" He said, warningly, his innocent ears rotating like satellites.

He read aloud on his own: " …search for… let's say that's my name there… there's a line that I can't tell apart… then… hang in there, help is coming." Zidane sighed and rested on his heels. " Help. Who? They can't land on the ground. _More_ airships?" He scoffed. 

The Moogle shrugged. He edged backwards and stood in the doorway of the kitchen. " I should go. You asked for us to find some old wood, and there's a search going on."

Zidane nodded. " See ya." He told the little creature. He tried to figure out what sort of help could arrive but he couldn't. _I just hope the help is somewhat more useful then airship patrols._

…::.*.::…

__

Two days later, aboard the Perinea – on the way to the Outer Continent

Amarant folded his arms across his chest and looked out at the shimmering waters stretching for miles ahead. His red hair was tousled by the wind and the fresh, salty spray from the ocean hit his face with a pleasant mist. They were still hours away from the coast, but he was already anxious, on his feet, pacing the deck. Regent Cid's ship was small but grand – there was more technology on it then Amarant had ever seen. The sonar was reading every whale and sea dragon in the ocean below and every flying creature in the air. From time to time, a dragon would appear, a dark and heavy blotch on the pale screen, crisscrossed with numbers and lines. Lani was steering, but once they were close to that coast, she set the airship on Autopilot.

" What are you thinking about?" A voice asked behind him. A shiver ran up his spine. Amarant turned around and saw Lani, her Alexandrian uniform's collar dipping seductively low, revealing that she was rather well endowed with womanly curves. She sighed and then rested on the metal railing. " Not talking much?" She added.

" I'm thinking about the mission." Amarant said.

" What about it?"

" It's stupid." He murmured.

" Pointless." She spat.

" Nobody can survive out there. If the Iifa tree didn't get him, a few weeks of crawling through the desert sand would. I only hope he made it to a Moogle, at least. They'd do their best to help." Amarant's stormy eyes seemed intense and at the same time disappointingly calm. They weren't the eyes of a wild adventurer. They were the eyes of a tired traveler.

Lani clucked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. " I'd survive out there." 

" Well, so would I." Amarant retorted immediately.

" I'd have found water on my own. I wouldn't need some damn Moogle's help." Lani said.

" Damn right. It's best on your own." Amarant's voice dropped to a husky whisper.

Lani's cold dark eyes met his. " I'm glad we agree on that." Her wide, pillow-like lips looked moist and shiny, delectable and seductive. They curved into a little scowl.

There was the unspoken break-up of their relationship in the air. It had happened, once before, but had broken up. Their careers had been in the way, they had been young, adventurous. There was too much competition between them and not enough time together to make their relationship alive. _It's best on our own,_ Amarant repeated in his mind. _It's been true to me before. I thought maybe Zidane was right for a moment, but then - - his stupid ideas got him killed. If he left Kuja on his own and did his own thing, then at least Zidane would have lived. Yes, it is best, safest on your own._

Lani sat herself down on a wooden foldout chair and she pulled out a book. Her long legs crossed, she appeared to be unapproachable, her long eyelashes covered her eyes, separating herself from Amarant. She didn't even look at him any longer.

__

I'm glad we agree on that, she had said. Amarant knew that there were two meanings to her words. _Our relationship is never going to return._

…::.*.::…


End file.
